Your Highness Blu-rayReview

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'80s fantasy throwback has a potty mouth, and that's about it.

By R.L. Shaffer

I wasn't a huge fan of A Knight's Tale. It was a bizarre, uneven little movie that blended pop culture trends/songs with a medieval setting. But the star-studded vehicle was led by up-and-coming sex symbol Heath Ledger, and rather quickly, the film became a cult hit. Over the years, A Knight's Tale has grown on me – it's sloppiness and strange behavior is its strength.

To be frank, A Knight's Tale is a bonafide masterpiece of offbeat medieval silliness compared to Your Highness, the latest directorial effort from the once great filmmaker, David Gordon Green. The film details two brothers, Fabious (James Franco) and Thadeous (Danny McBride) who embark on a quest to save Thadeous' love, Belladonna, who's unfortunately not played by the popular porn star of the same name, but an OK substitute – the always-lovely Zooey Deschanel. They must face off against a powerful warlock named Leezar (Justin Theroux), who wishes to deflower the virginal Belladonna (see how funny that would have been with a porn star in the role). Along the way they run into Isabel (Natalie Portman) who's on her own quest to avenge her brothers.

Sadly, Your Highness is a lame-brain pot comedy with only the most superfluous references to toking up. It's a tired sex comedy that relies on homophobic humor to bring home the laughs. It's a dull throwback to '80s fantasy films, with shallow references throughout and a narrative that drags in all the worst places. And it's not even a very good juvenile comedy, unless the idea of using modern lingo and swearing when it isn't appropriate tickles your funny bone.

As such, Your Highness presents a messy concoction of fantasy lore and improvised humor. James Franco claimed there wasn't even a script for the film, just an outline. The rest of the movie was improvised. It shows. Scenes go on and on until something somewhat funny happens, then it's on the next set piece where we repeat the same tired routine. Worse, the entire cast speaks with terrible British accents, which hurts the entire beat of the film. It's clear nearly everyone is struggling with their accent. After all, it's hard to drive improvised humor when you're grappling to find an organic balance with your performance.

The film does, at least, take the time to slow down and develop the characters somewhat, and the narrative is fairly serious when it wants to be. But everything in between feels hackneyed and wasted, with shallow humor and pop culture references akin to Date Movie or Meet the Spartans. This simply isn't the sort of material you'd expect such a talented cast to throw away on aimless dick and fart jokes.

Even as a pure stoner comedy, the film is a mess. References to the ganja are slight and often feel forced into the narrative to help sell the film as something it clearly doesn't want to be. This provides a wasteland of bad jokes and cheap references.

Some of the fantasy elements are fun and even well designed, especially early on when they take the audience by surprise. Production design and even a few of the visual effects are truly inspired. But there's also plenty completely tasteless set pieces and even a disgustingly homophobic sequence with a character called the Great Wise Wizard (clearly a Labyrinth-inspired creature).

Truthfully, Your Highness plays far more like a fantasy homage than a raunchy comedy, which is the film's lone strength. There are nods to films like Labyrinth, Princess Bride, Dark Crystal, Clash of the Titans and many more. But stacked on these clever homages is pointless potty humor and needless violence and gore. I don't remember many gory be-headings, severed penises and limb removals in Labyrinth. Must have been a Director's Cut.

Your Highness is basically a "kitchen sink" comedy. Every possible gag, every possible joke, every possible line, set piece, breast-and-bum-revealing costume, and pratfall is tossed into the movie with no guiding hand, hoping something will stick. But because there's so little story or genuine creativity and structure to the improvised dialogue, the movie falls completely flat, and ultimately underwhelms. Sometimes it really helps to have a script. Your Highness proves that.

Universal brings Your Highness to Blu-ray encoded in 1080p/AVC and mixed in 5.1 DTS-HD Master Audio. Oddly, despite being shot on 35MM, this transfer feels more like the film was shot on HD video. Motion blur is present throughout and the image rarely engages visually. Flesh tones are saturated, and depth is surprisingly shallow. I'm guessing the improvised nature of the characters forced less than stellar cinematography with this one. The encode seems mostly flawless, at least, with just a hint of noise popping up in darker set pieces.

The film's high-res audio mix is also just a tad overcooked. Action set pieces are robust and aggressive, but sometimes overshadow dialogue. Bass is hearty and surrounds deliver plenty of atmosphere. Dialogue, oddly, sports a few high-end crackles here and there. But, despite a relatively low $40 million budget, this film sounds like a big budget popcorn epic. However, had dialogue been fine-tuned a little, this track would be even better than it already is.

Extras are rather impressive, as is typically the case with the Apatow gang. Unfortunately, this isn't an Apatow-guided comedy (it shows), but I digress. Naturally, there's a completely useless "unrated" cut of the film, which runs about 3 minutes longer. Thankfully, Universal packs the original theatrical cut on the disc as well. Also, expect the usual collection of deleted/alternate/extended material, with about 15 minutes worth of BD-exclusive deleted bits. There's some funny stuff here so be sure to check it out. There's also the standard gag reel, a Line-O-Rama and a few other deleted bits featuring the Great Wise Wizard and Leezar.

Rounding out the extras there's an EPK featurette, Universal's standard assortment of BD-exclusives (BD-Live, PocketBlu, etc) and a delightful, honest commentary (with a brief video intro) from director David Gordon Green and stars Danny McBride, James Franco and Justin Theroux. Disc two boasts a Digital Copy of the film. Oddly, a DVD copy is not provided.

Your Highness delivers a few clever set pieces and the occasional gag, not to mention some sexy gals in equally sexy clothing. But ultimately, if you're looking for an '80s-inspired fantasy throwback, just stick with the classics, or give A Knight's Tale or Stardust and spin instead.